Rwanda struggles to develop e-waste policy

Rwanda struggles to develop e-waste policy

Rwanda struggles to develop e-waste policy

In Rwanda, unwanted electronics are steadily piling up, causing serious problems for institutions unsure of what to do with their outdated IT equipment. The government has yet to address the problem.

According to a report on allAfrica.com[1], the central African country currently has no policy in place to deal with the growing amount of unwanted electronics that are currently being stored at universities and other institutions for a lack of disposal and recycling options. Officials are currently drafting a policy to deal with the problem and a government official said a law should be on the books by June.

However, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, a government minister, said that the proposal won't solve all problems, telling allAfrica that "the policy, turning electronic waste into productive assets for business is not tackled because the Swedish experts who drafted the policy took the best practices from Sweden which are not necessarily in line with best practices in developing countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh where you find that people have been able to harness electronic waste into business productive assets that are friendly to the environment."